Postgame Quotes - January 10, 2012

Pistons vs Mavericks

(On turnovers in the first quarter and assessing the game): "You can assess all aspects because it's something that we do, you look at the first 13 or 15 (points) were all off turnovers, so you have to assess why they happen, how they happen and try to correct them. It's obviously been a process; part of our fabric right now. It's obviously not something that we want to do, but we have to look at why and how to correct it. Three of them (turnovers) were early on post feeds so just the ability to move hands, to feed the post and for the guys slacking off you drive first to the middle and make them cut you off and then cross back over so that you can feed the post. It's a problem but it is also part of our plan."

(On if there was carry over from last night’s loss): "No I do not think it's a carry over. I think we played a quality opponent that had one road game; we did not have the same focus or energy that we had starting the game against Chicago. Players are quick to move on in this league, I just think we obviously did not do play as well but at the same time you have to give the opponent credit, we did not just give them the ball they took it."

(On how tonight’s game fit the big picture): "That is our job, we have to see the big picture. You look at it and break down every possession, from a game like that also seeing from a macro level and say ‘where are we going? What do we need to do to get where we want to go?’. This process may be very painful. There are no easy answers here; we have a lot of work (but) there’s no doubt in my mind that we will get it right. But, it won't just get right by getting right, it is going to take a lot of investment on all of our parts."

(On what came out of tonight’s game) “Just got to think about Milwaukee; the next game. We have to learn from our mistakes this game and come back against Milwaukee and play like we want to play and like we should play.”

(On turnovers) “You’ve got to take care of the ball to win games and turnovers are a big part of the game. You’ve got to take care of that ball and bounce back against Milwaukee.”

(On the mood in the locker room) “We’re trying to keep our heads straight. It’s early in the season, there’s a lot of games left and we know how we can play, so we just have to stay positive.”

(On Delonte West): “It’s not often you have a guy on the floor that goes 9-for-10, but there’s a guy on the floor that’s actually the best player on the court. Delonte was the best player on the court because of his competiveness. That’s what we need right now. We need consistency as a team competitively and he set a great tone for us the last two games.”

(On Defense): “Well, defense helps everything. We had to stay with it, we were active and we were stance and we were making some good things happen. In fairness, this is a depleted team and it’s a game we should win, but you have to go out and do the right things and the guys did. So, it’s a positive step and tomorrow is another big challenge.”

(On Dirk getting out of his shooting slump) “We all had a feeling that he was going to play a great game tonight because the way the schedule is set up these last couple of days. It’s a road win that we haven’t had yet, so that’s really important to us. Momentum has been illusive for us, so we respect how tough it is competitively in this league right now, but our goal is to build on this.”

(On game):“We’re on the road we will take it. We have a big game tomorrow night.”

(On Delonte West): “He’s incredible. His energy we’ve been feeding off of it; obviously without Jason Kidd. I think that people forget about Delonte’s ability to run the team and play point guard. That’s what he was drafted as and he’s a good one.”

(On Dirk Nowitzki): “Dirk developed a rhythm. He had he had his stroke going and we needed it.”

(On next game against the Celtics): “These games are tough. These are the ones you put on your schedule. It’s like Miami, it’s like the Lakers, these are big games. This is what you like as a professional.”

(On game):“That’s one thing you have to take advantage of this season; on teams that are coming off of back-to-backs. You see across the league that those back-to-back-to-back games are wearing on teams. That’s what we did, we just took advantage. For us, we’re going in there tomorrow against a team that’s going to try and jump on us tomorrow so it’s already forward thinking.”

(On 5-5 record): “We would love to be 10-0 right now. It’s a long season and you can’t get too high or too low on wins and losses until the losses start to hurt you once you get in the playoffs.”